Articles

This article by William March is in the Tampa Bay Times:
Veteran environmental and community planning activist Mariella Smith, a Ruskin Democrat, says she intends to file early next year to run for the countywide District 5 county commissioner’s seat against Republican Commissioner Victor Crist. Smith has backing from Commissioner Pat Kemp, who won her own countywide seat last year. She has worked for years as an advocate for environmental and community planning issues, including serving on citizen advisory boards and often opposing what she calls unregulated development. Her most recent cause was successfully opposing a plan for a sewage sludge dump near the Little Manatee River.

Thanks to citizen activism, Chris’s Plumbing has withdrawn their application for a sewage effluent dump on the banks of the Little Manatee River’s wetlands. This is a big victory for all of us who worked to defend the little Manatee River from this toxic pollution! Enjoy your Thanksgiving week, with no public hearing!

UPDATE: Chris’s Plumbing has changed their application to sewage-effluent spraying (instead of sewage-solids spreading). It’s still horrible. In fact parts of the plan are even worse now.
• They doubled the volume of toxic waste to 100,000 gallons per day!
• They reduced the setback around the wetlands to a mere 30 feet.
• Their chlorine “treatment” is ineffective against many disease-causing organisms.
• Their new Special Use zoning permit would last forever, running with the land no matter who owns it.

County Commissioner Pat Kemp is working to kick-start safe cycling trails in Hillsborough. Here are 3 things we can do to help: (1) Show up, (2) Speak up, (3) Contact Commissioners to tell them it’s high time to build the South Coast Greenway Trail from Ruskin to Tampa!

Citizens won a major battle against costly urban sprawl at a public hearing last Tuesday when County Commissioner Pat Kemp led the board to deny two proposed changes to our Comprehensive Plan. The proposals would have paved over rural areas with urban subdivisions, impacted wetlands, undermined community plans, and burdened taxpayers with the transportation costs that come with adding suburban commuters to far-flung rural areas.